Well, 2015 has come and gone and it's been a great year. In fact, 2015 was the best year of my life up to this point. What makes that even better is I could say the same thing about every single year since 2007. God has blessed dramatically, and I can honestly say I do not deserve a single blessing I have. The good in my life is entirely from God's kindness and mercy. So here are some thoughts on the year that was 2015:

♣ I became a daddy for the first time in 2012, and 2015 was my first full calendar year with two children. Having two presents some challenges, but it has been an amazing blessing. It is more clear to me than ever before that the Bible is right when it says that children are a blessing from the Lord.

♣ I was a candidate in the general election for the second time in 2015, running for an at-large seat on the Bloomington City Council. (I had previously ran for Bloomington Township Board in 2006.) I had a respectable showing for a write-in candidate, but if I had it to do over again I would have ran as a Republican - especially considering how much press coverage I got. I learned a lot, and I am glad I was able to bring a lot of issues to the table that may not have been discussed otherwise - especially civil asset forfeiture and police militarization.

♣ The anti-abortion movement in Bloomington was more active in 2015 than it has been in over twenty years, spurred on by the body parts selling scandal at Planned Parenthood. I spoke at a couple different rallies and the county council had more people speak in opposition to funding Planned Parenthood this year than in the previous six years combined. I hope we can keep this momentum going, and Christian Citizens For Life will certainly try to make that happen.

♣ We've seen yet another scandal in the county Auditor's Office, with multiple personal charges on the auditor's credit card. The office has seen problem afetr problem since the Democrats took control in 2004. Voters must be convinced that electing someone from that office to be the next county auditor will only continue this mess.